VR & Healthcare – Dr. VR Will See You Now
Virtual Reality is changing the face of the healthcare. Various fields of medicine currently use VR technology to help improve teaching and learning for doctors, surgeons and nurses on a global level. Continuous research and developments within virtual reality programmes enable a host of health and well-being issues to embrace innovative methods of diagnosing, treating and ultimately curing patients.
People are realising that VR headsets aren’t solely for gaming and social connection, they are being in teaching hospitals and colleges to give students and doctors new methodologies and techniques to help improve patient outcomes.
One expert on The Medical Application of Virtual Reality Technology, Walter Greenleaf PhD, believes “……the deepest and most significant market for VR will be in clinical care and in improving health and wellness”.
Within the field of dentistry HapTEL™ (Haptics in Technology-enhanced Learning) is being used to help enhance student’s 3D perceptions, manipulation skills and the importance of pressure. Professor Margaret Cox has said “When the students first learn they lean very heavily on the drill and go straight through the tooth to the gum, which would be disastrous in a real patient. They also take ages”. Professor Cox carried on to say “…..this (HepTEL™) allows the student to learn both skill and speed”
Other examples of VR technology that is having a marked effect on healthcare include C.A.V.E. (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) used for the treatment of phobias and BRAVEMIND, created by The Institute of Technologies, University of Southern California, to help provide relief from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
As the world of Virtual Reality continues to expand in healthcare, and the sales of VR headsets continues to increase at an incredible rate, it has been predicted that by 2020 over 25 million sets will be sold, and they won’t be sold just for gaming.